Jaiharikhal-Chundai Pira area of Uttarakhand’s Pauri district would soon be developed as a full-ledged tourist circuit, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has announced

Picturesque Jaiharikhal-Chundai Pira area of Uttarakhand’s Pauri district would soon be developed as a full-ledged tourist circuit, chief minister Trivendra Singh said, while urging people to go for farming of aromatic plants to augment their income instead of migrating from the hills.

“Hill farmers should grow lemon grass and aromatic plants on their fallow farmlands, which will help augment their income,” Rawat said Friday.

Addressing an event at Jaiharikhal, Rawat also appealed locals to renovate their old, worn-out ancestral homes so that they could be utilised as home stays for tourists. “Efforts are being made by us to develop Jaiharikhal-Chundai area in Pauri as a full-fledged tourist circuit,” he added.

The CM also expressed concern over the fast shrinking agricultural land in the mountain state, which had posed two big challenges. “One, of these is how to explore options to enhance the farmers’ income. The other challenge before us is how to encourage them to help them make use of their farmlands which are getting rendered fallow (owing to forced migration),” he added.

On a positive note, he informed that some 3, 746 farmers have already started growing lemon grass and aromatic plants on 660 hectares of farmlands lying fallow. “That shows how small efforts can bring about a change”, he said noting that a total of 576 kg of lemon grass “is being grown” annually in the hill state.